The present invention relates to a machine known as a "stretcher" for ironing upper garments at least in a zone corresponding to a shoulder, arm-hole and sleeve.
Known machines of this kind comprise a former, shaped to the contour of at least one shoulder, for accommodating the garment in the wearing position, and a co-operating part positioned opposite this former and matching the exterior shape of the former and the garment carried by it. The co-operating part is adapted to apply pressure to the former and the garment. These machines also incorporate suitable means for injecting steam and/or air into the pressed zone in accordance with a predetermined ironing cycle.
Means are also provided for injecting steam and/or air into the interior of the sleeve, which is stretched in a transverse direction by means of a device generally constituted by two wooden blades which are urged away from each other by a spring, the sleeve being brought into a position corresponding to a natural wearing position in relation to the former by securing its lower end to the frame of the machine, generally by means of a clamp.
This known type of machine has a number of disadvantages. Firstly, the wooden stretching blades have to be fitted in the sleeve through the lower end thereof and then this lower end of the sleeve has to be secured to the machine which calls for additional manipulation when positioning the garment.
Also, it is difficult to bring the wooden blade stretcher and the fixing point for the sleeve into the correct positions, so that the sleeve does not always have the required "fall" after ironing has been completed. In particular, deformation of the cloth of the sleeve is often observed at the terminal zones of the blades of the stretcher.
Deformation of the cloth is also sometimes observed at the lower portion of the arm-hole which is generally pressed between the former and a rigid plate connected to the former by resilient means which press it against the former. In fact, there is not necessarily correspondence between the shape imparted to this portion of the sleeve by the two rigid pressing parts and the shape that tends to be imparted to the entire sleeve by the stretcher placed within the sleeve and the clamp for holding the sleeve in the natural wearing position.
The aim of the present invention is to eliminate all of these disadvantages by providing a machine for ironing upper garments at least in a zone corresponding to a shoulder, arm-hole and sleeve.